Leeds striker Alan Smith has earned his first England call-up for 13 months - on the day he was arrested over allegations he threw a bottle into the crowd at Elland Road last month.

The 23-year-old was picked for the England squad after being questioned and later released on bail about the alleged incident at the Carling Cup clash with Manchester United on October 28.

A spokeswoman for West Yorkshire Police said Smith would have to return to a police station at a later date and a file would be passed to the Crown Prosecution Service.

After speaking to police, Smith headed for Manchester to link up with the England squad ahead of Sunday's international against Denmark at Old Trafford.

He was called up by Sven-Goran Eriksson after the England coach's decision to allow Darius Vassell to play in a midweek friendly for Aston Villa backfired.

Eriksson acted after being left with only Emile Heskey and Wayne Rooney as his fit strikers for Sunday's international with Denmark at Old Trafford.

Smith has not featured in an England squad since he was sent off in the Euro 2004 qualifier with Macedonia at St Mary's in October 2002 for two bookable offences.

His only involvement since that red card was as part of the two day training get-together at Aylesbury United last November.

Eriksson had been mindful of the fact that Vassell was lacking in confidence after failing to score in the Premiership this season and permitted him to turn out against Al Nasr in Dubai after being contacted by Villa manager David O'Leary.

It was a risk given the shortage of forward power at Eriksson's disposal, although the move initially looked to have paid handsome dividends as Vassell was on target four times for his club in a 5-2 win.

But any positives in that direction soon dissolved when news filtered through that the 23-year-old had suffered a knee injury.

Vassell, whose only goal this season came against Wycombe in the Carling Cup in late September, underwent a scan yesterday.

The discovery of fluid on the knee meant he was unable to fly back to England yesterday.

He will now return with his Villa team-mates late this afternoon and then be assessed by the England medical staff on the eve of the first warm-up international in the build-up to the Euro 2004 finals.

But it seems unlikely that Eriksson would want to risk a player, who has produced many of his best performances for his country as a substitute, in what is after all a non competitive game.

Eriksson will definitely be without Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard, who withdrew from the squad with a back problem after discussions between his club and England officials.

Skipper David Beckham joined up with the squad yesterday and, although he was confined to having treatment at the team headquarters on his back injury and did not train, is expected to be fit to play at his former stomping ground.

The one real ray of sunshine was the return to training of Rooney who looked lively and appeared to be suffering few effects of his recent bout of flu.